WINONA LAKE – “Curtains” premiered on Broadway in 2007 and closed in 2008, but Director Mike Yocum already has brought the Tony Award-winning show to Winona Lake. It’s a musical, comedy and a murder mystery all wrapped up in one. Grace College presents “Curtains” at Rodeheaver Auditorium, Winona Lake, Friday at 7:30 p.m., Saturday at 1:30 and 7:30 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m. Tickets are available at the Tree of Life Bookstore or at the door. Ticket prices are $10 for adults and $7 for students and senior citizens. The book for “Curtains” is by Rupert Holmes, lyrics by Fred Ebb, and music by John Kander, with additional lyrics by Kander and Holmes. Kander and Ebb are the writers behind legendary Broadway musicals “Cabaret” and “Chicago”. Yocum said Ebb died after he started writing the show, and Holmes was brought in to finish it. Based on the original book and concept by Peter Stone, the musical is a send-up of backstage murder mystery plots, set in 1959 Boston, Mass. After 23 previews, “Curtains” opened March 22, 2007, at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre. The cast included David Hyde Pierce (“Frasier”) as Cioffi. The musical garnered eight Tony Award nominations, with Hyde Pierce winning the award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical. “Curtains” closed June 29, 2008. The musical follows the fallout when something big happens to the pain-in-the-neck and untalented star of “Robbin’ Hood of the Old West”, Jessica Cranshaw, during her opening night curtain call. It is up to police Lt. Frank Cioffi, who moonlights as a musical theater fan, to save the show and solve the case. Yocum said “Robbin’ Hood” is “essentially an ‘Oklahoma’ rip off.” When Cranshaw has her “injury”, the whole cast has mixed emotions because she was no good as an actress and a pain in the neck, Yocum said. There are 13 big roles in the musical, but the ensemble is kept busy all through the show. “There’s lots of big numbers. I hired (Wagon Wheel Theatre Artistic Director) Scott Michaels to choreograph three numbers,” Yocum said. Those three numbers are “Wide Open Spaces”, “Thataway” and “Kansasland”. Some of the other twenty-some musical numbers include “What Kind of Man”, “Show People”, “I Miss the Music”, “He Did It” and “A Tough Act to Follow”. The cast of Grace College’s production of “Curtains” includes Will Burby as Cioffi; Jessica Taylor as Niki Harris; Bekah Noack as Georgia Hendricks; Megan McGarvey as Carmen Bernstein; Karl Johnson as Aaron Fox; Paul Morales as Sidney Bernstein; Brady Rhodes as Christopher Belling; Amy Simmons as Bambi Bernet; Ian Stephenson as Daryl Grady; Whitney Roach as Johnny Harmon; Ian Christensen as Oscar Shapiro; Kyle Stephenson as Bobby Pepper; Allison Hagedon as Cranshaw; Rebekah Porterfield as Sasha Iljinksy; and Will Gross as Detective O’Farrell. Members of the ensemble are Katie Adams, Jillian Clark, Lindsay Devereaux, Chloe Guess, Crystal Horner, Bethany Michaelski, Rachael Ramos, Kylie Wadsworth, Charles Caron, Jacob Furlong, Sam Neudeck, Timon Nimtz, Tyler Umpleby and Kellam Venosky. Orchestra includes Marlene Everson on piano; Sue DeVito and Farrell Vernon on reeds; Eric Criss and Joe Peloza on trumpet; Jim Kraft on trombone; Tammy Sprunger on French horn; Dan Zambrano on bass; Adam Bedwell on drums; and David Roseberry on keyboard.Porterfield is conductor and co-musical director, with Marlene Everson as co-musical director; Rachel Ladew as stage manager; Rachel D. Miner and Rachel J. Miner as costumers; Yocum on lighting; Steve Wise on sound; and WWT alum Jennifer Dow for wigs. Along with Michaels, choreographers include Bethany Michalski, Katie Adams, Whitney Roach, Bekah Noack and Jessica Taylor. The set construction and crew include Katie Adams, Justin Biehl, Will Burby, Elizabeth Caron, Ryan Day, Elizabeth Farrow, Joy Graham, Allison Hagedon, Jonathon Henry, Aryn Protsman, Katie Puckett, Whitney Roach, Lauren Schafer, Sarah Simmons and Enrica Verrett. Yocum encouraged everyone to come out and see the show. “There’s plenty of room for everybody,” he said.
